Joyful Tidings, Unwelcome News
by crazedandbemused
Summary: Hermione thought she had the flu, but at Ginny's insistance she goes to St. Mungo's for a check up. When she tries to break the news to Draco, complications arise that tests their commitment to each other. One-shot, Post-hogwarts.


****

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers own Harry Potter and all things related.

"Ginny, I can't go. I'm sick" a muffled voice said from under the covers. "I've been sick all week."

"Hermione! We've been planning this for _months_! Don't leave me now!"

"Go away or I'll retch on you."

Ginny sighed and climbed onto the bed next to her friend.

"Alright, come on. Tell me your symptoms and I'll diagnose you."

Hermione flipped the covers down angrily.

"I'm not in the mood to be your homework today Ginny! Leave me be!"

"Christ, I'm only trying to help."

"You wanna help? Get me some crackers and a glass of water!" Hermione growled and threw her pillow at Ginny's head.

"Only if you'll be my patient." She replied cheekily.

"Ginny!"

"Come on; tell Healer Weasley-soon-to-be-Potter what you're feeling."

General angry grumblings emerged from under the comforter, but nothing intelligible.

" 'Scuse me? I couldn't understand you. How's a healer in training supposed to get any practice with patients like you?"

"Fine! My head hurts, my back aches, I'm always dizzy, I'm constantly ill, I'm completely lethargic, and I'm on edge every single second of the day. There! Happy?"

"Yeah yeah," Ginny leaned back against the headboard and tapped a sapphire blue nail against her chin. "Well, knowing you, it could just be stress. Really Hermione, take a vacation, you need it. But then again, it could be a virus, because I'm going through exactly the same thing as you. Sorry dearie, if I gave it to you."

Hermione gave her a death glare, and walloped her in the face with another pillow.

"Or, oh goodness, this was something I was going to talk with you about today..." Ginny focused on her toes and started twisting her fingers, "Since me and Harry are engaged now, we started...you know...sleeping together."

Her friend stared for a few seconds, bit her lip, and then broke into a fit of giggles.

"You two have only been having sex for two months? Christ, how did you handle all that pent up frustration? I mean, you two are always quarrelling about something! I thought it was so you could have fantastic make-up sex when you got home!"

"We, well, now it's like that but...before we just...kissed a lot and... Stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry sweetie, keep talking."

"Right, so...I'm, ah...late."

Hermione stopped laughing right away.

"You're WHAT?!"

"Late, and since we're both going through the same symptoms, maybe we're both pregnant."

"I am _not_ pregnant."

"How can you be sure? When was the last time you had your monthlies?"

"Oh my god, Ginny!" Hermione buried her face in her hands and didn't reply.

Ginny sighed and took her hand.

"'Mione?"

"I should have had it three weeks ago."

"We need to go to St. Mungo's."

Hermione nodded.

"Let me get my coat."

* * *

"I'm so nervous Ginny. What are we going to tell the boys?" Hermione stopped dead, "I don't even know if Draco ever _wanted_ children. And how is his mother going to react? She's so old fashioned! We're not married, hell, we're not even engaged!"

"He loves you, so you don't have anything to worry about." Ginny grabbed Hermione's shoulders and steered her passed the welcome witch. "The worst thing that can happen is he'll freak out a little because his mother will have a heart attack at the idea of having half-blooded grandchildren."

"Thank you for the reassurance, Gin."

"Weasley?" A nurse asked from the doorway to the maternity ward, " And Granger?"

"Ooh! That's us." Ginny popped up from her seat, pulling a morose Hermione behind her.

"Follow me please."

The nurse led them down a few different hallways and finally into a small, somewhat cramped room with three chairs and an examination table.

"Take a seat ladies. Healer Greystone will be with you in a moment. She'll be asking you a few questions about your symptoms and your cycle and about your sexual activities and when she's done with that she'll perform the charm." With that, the nurse left.

"There's a charm? If there's a charm, why couldn't you have done this at home?!" Hermione hissed angrily.

"Because I, unlike yourself, actually need to practice my charms before I can perform them correctly, not just read the theory behind it. We only started the maternity chapter on Thursday."

A knock sounded from the door, startling both young women.

"Hello there dearies, I'm healer Greystone." A short, middle-aged woman walked through the door and sat across from Ginny and Hermione, "I hear you two think you're expecting."

The girls nodded.

"Well then you've come to the right healer!" Greystone laughed, "Do you two have anything to keep secret from each other or would you like to stay in the room during the examinations?"

"We're not going to have to get naked are we?" Hermione grumbled.

"No no sweetheart, no nudity required. The charm can be done just by lifting your shirt."

"Then we can both stay. Ginny wants to start first."

"Does she now?" Greystone chuckled, "Alright then. How're you feeling?"

"Now? Fairly well, a little tired, but who isn't when they're in medical school?"

"Too true, too true. Have you been nauseous? Retching at all? Dizzy spells or fainting?"

"Eh, yes, yes, no, and no."

"Mhmm...Obvious question but I'm required to ask: are you sexually active?"

"Yes."

"Were you raped?"

"No!"

"How long have you been sexually active?"

"A couple months."

"When was your last period?"

"Five weeks ago."

Greystone nodded and laughed her bubbly little laugh again.

"Well Ms. Weasley, I'd say it's time for the charm."

"Do you think you could ask 'Mione her questions first, and then do our charms?"

"Sure. Ms. Granger, how are you feeling?"

"Ill. I've been nauseous and getting sick all week. I'm dizzy all the time and I've fainted three times. Ginny don't you dare tell Draco, he was only around for the first one."

Ginny waved her off.

"I've been sexually active for a year and a half and no, I've never been raped. My last period was supposed to be three weeks ago, but I always use protection, both wizard and muggle, when I have sex so there's no way I could be pregnant."

Greystone nodded silently.

"I take it you don't want to be pregnant?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione whispered after a long pause, "I mean, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having a baby, but...I'm not married and my boyfriend hasn't shown any signs of changing that. His mother is from an old pureblood family and I'm muggle born. She likes me enough now, but I'm not sure how she would react if her son showed more interest than what we have at the moment."

Greystone nodded again and a somewhat awkward silence enveloped the three as they thought.

"Well, I think it's time to find out for sure, ladies. Ms. Weasley, why don't you lie down on that table there and roll your shirt off your stomach."

Ginny did as she was told and grabbed Hermione's hand. Greystone gently laid the tip of her wand against Ginny's abdomen and whispered an incantation.

"I'm sorry Ms. Weasley," Greystone said a moment later, "the results are negative."

Ginny sat up slowly, her eyes squeezed shut.

"You know, I didn't think I would be upset but..." She sniffed, "But it's a good thing. Now I won't have to worry about when the wedding will have to be or if my dress will fit. And Harry is safe. Christ 'Mione, can you imagine what the boys would do if they thought Harry and I were sleeping together before we got married?"

Hermione giggled and tugged Ginny's hand.

"There wouldn't be a Harry to get married to. You'd be marrying a matchbox full of Harry bits."

"Alright, enough talk about my gorgeous fiancée, it's time to find out whether or not you've got a bun in the oven!"

"Don't be so crude," Hermione admonished as she laid down. "and give me your hand."

"You ready?" Greystone asked. Hermione could only nod and she screwed her eyes shut so tight she saw spots.

"Ow, ow, you're cutting off circulation to my fingers 'Mione."

But Hermione wasn't paying any attention, her entire being was focused on adamant prayer, even though she wasn't religious.

_Maybe it's working_, she thought. She hadn't prayed since she was a small child, and forgot what it felt like. If the warm, tingly feeling in her stomach was any indication, perhaps prayer did work.

"You can sit up now Ms. Granger." Greystone said softly.

Hermione did as she was told.

"Well, what's the news?" Ginny pressed eagerly.

"I'm not quite sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing for you Ms. Granger." Greystone said, trying her damnedest not to smile, "Congratulations. You're six weeks pregnant."

Hermione's was numb to everything for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

_What am I going to tell him? What am I going to tell him?!_

Hermione was pacing in the hallway. She had been pacing in front of the fireplace, so she would know when Draco arrived, but the living room was too small, so she had relocated to the bedroom. Multiple stumbles and one very hard fall later, she decided the hallway was less dangerous to her health.

_And the baby's_. She added as an afterthought.

"Hermione?!" a deep male voice called from the kitchen.

"Oh god, he's here." She whispered to herself, "What to do, what to do!"

She took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and walked into the kitchen with a brilliant smile on her face.

"There you are." Draco said softly, grinning just as widely as she as he wrapped his arms around her, "How're you feeling?"

For a moment, she panicked. Did he know? Why else would he ask how she was feeling? She forgot he had seen her at her worst all week.

"Mmm, better," she said brightly and led him over to the couch, "I think all the adrenaline helped my system beat whatever I had."

She had decided how she was going to approach the topic.

"Adrenaline?" He asked, "What were you doing that made you use adrenaline? You're ill! You should have been in bed all day!"

She smiled crookedly and patted his hand.

"I had to take Ginny to St. Mungo's."

"Weaslette? What's wrong with her?" He pulled Hermione into his arms and laid her head back onto his shoulder.

"Nothing. But she thought she was pregnant."

"What?! Weaslette? I thought she was more careful than to let St. Potter knock her up before the wedding."

Hermione whacked his thigh.

"He has a name you dolt, it's Harry. You know I hate it when you call my friends those nicknames."

He smiled at her and kissed her cheek.

"Then why don't you freak when I call Ginny Weaslette?"

"That's why. You call her Ginny and you're friends with her. I see it as more of a term of endearment than name calling that way."

He chuckled and buried his face in her mass of curls.

"So she's not pregnant? That's probably for the better. Her brothers would tear Potter apart if she was."

"That's exactly what I said," Hermione laughed, "Though I think she was trying to make herself feel better. She seemed pretty upset that she wasn't going to have a baby."

Draco mumbled something into her hair, but seemed to be nodding off. After a few minutes, Hermione nudged him awake.

"Draco? What would you do if I got pregnant?"

She felt him stiffen and although it didn't mean anything, she still felt a tiny twinge of sadness in her heart.

"Uh, I don't know. I don't think I'm ready for kids right now anyways and we're not married so I think my mother would have a stroke..." He sighed and snuggled deeper into the couch, "I don't really want to think about it right now, actually."

That tiny twinge of sadness turned into deeper despair with every word he spoke. She didn't know how she was supposed to handle the situation, but she knew for sure that she couldn't stand being in Draco's arms at the moment.

"Draco? Draco, let me go. I think I'm going to be sick." He sat up immediately and helped her to the bathroom.

"Do you need anything? A glass of water? Some toast?" He was dotting like a mother and if she wasn't so depressed she might have laughed, but now, she just wanted him out of her sight.

"No, I'm fine, I just...I think you should go home Draco." she mumbled as she splashed her face with cool water from the tap, "I don't want to you catch whatever this is. It's not pleasant."

"Are you sure? I could stay, it wouldn't bother me. I don't want to leave you alone like this."

"I'll be fine, Draco! Just go!"

He was silent and a little offended, but he told himself that anyone would be short tempered if they were sick, so he kissed her forehead and disapparated, oblivious to the fact that Hermione was sobbing herself to sleep in her bedroom.

* * *

"Hermione, I don't know what to tell you. You can't think this is a good idea can you? Do you think you're going to raise a child all on your own? You need him!"

Hermione was lying on the sofa in her living room, the very same sofa where Draco made her life more complicated, just by saying a single sentence, than it had ever been before.

"I _don't_ need him Ginny. I can do this without his help, without him being here." She sniffed and blew her nose, "If he doesn't want a baby, I'm not going to force one on him. He has a life, he has other things to do than take care of a bastard child."

"Hermione!" Ginny screeched, "You take that back right now! Your child may be born out of wedlock but it certainly is _not_ a bastard. You love Draco and he loves you! Your baby would only be a bastard if one of you didn't care about the other."

"Well he obviously doesn't care about our baby!"

"Did you even tell him you were pregnant or did you just go by his hazy ideas about having a kid?"

Hermione was silent.

"I knew it! Christ, 'Mione, if you just tell him-"

"I'm not telling him a thing! I'm breaking up with him tonight and that's that! Goodbye!" She cut off the floo connection, sending Ginny spiralling back to her and Harry's flat.

_I just hope he'll understand._

"Hermione? What's wrong? You seem a little preoccupied."

Draco and Hermione were laying on the floor in front of the fireplace, each enjoying a mug of warm hot cocoa and draping themselves over pillows and random body parts. Hermione was near to tears, knowing what she had to do, and was trying to make the best out of their last time together.

"Draco, we need to talk." she said morosely as she sat up and drained the last of her cocoa. His face was one of confusion, he had no idea what she would need to be so serious about.

"Alright, shoot."

"We can't see each other anymore."

He was silent. Surely he had heard wrong. She didn't really want to leave him, did she?

"E-excuse me?"

_Tell me this is some horrible nightmare!_ He thought to himself, _I love her._

"I said we can't see each other anymore." She whispered as she stared blankly at the fire. "This, us, whatever was here...it won't work out. We need to move on, find something, some_one_ new."

He was trying the best he could to steady his breathing and keep his face impassive.

"Why? I thought we were doing wonderfully." He murmured, "We don't fight, we can talk for hours, the sex is _amazing_ if I do say so myself...where did it go bad?"

"Don't ask me to clarify." she snapped suddenly, "I just know this can't go on. I would appreciate it if you would leave."

He clenched his fists and ground his teeth together. How could she do this to him? He was ready to...well, obviously she didn't feel as strongly as he did.

"So is there someone else? Is that why you're doing this."

"No, there isn't anyone else." She spoke softly, the way she did when she told him she loved him, but it didn't feel the same anymore, "I still love you, it's just...we're too different. We've reached that point where we either have to make it or break it. We could never make it, Draco. You know that."

"How do you know? We haven't tried. We don't even live together!"

"Don't ask how I do or do not know! This is going to end, Draco. Right here, right now."

"What if I don't want it to end, huh?" he hissed, standing toe to toe with her, their noses almost touching, "Did you ever think that maybe I love you more than you could possibly realize? What if I want to try to make it work?"

"It _won't_. I don't want to go through the heartbreak!"

"You're putting me through that heartbreak right now!"

"Draco, stop, please." Hermione whispered, rubbing her temples to ward off the oncoming migraine, "Just...leave, please. We're through."

He stood there for a few minutes, balling his fist and breathing heavily through his nose. He didn't want to be so angry, but as a child he wasn't allowed to be sad, so any despair he felt was programmed to flow straight to anger. He took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"Fine, I'll leave. But just know that once I walk out that door, I'm gone for good. And after awhile, when I'm over you and you realize how big of a mistake this was, I won't drop whoever does happen to capture my heart just because you realize that you still love me. By the time you recognize how wrong this is, I won't be coming back." With that, he turned on his heal and stormed out the front door.

Hermione stayed where she was, just staring at the door, waiting for him to come back and apologize, because she knew that if he did, she would tell him everything and shower him in kisses. But in the half-hour that she stood there, he didn't come back. Her lower lip started to tremble as reality slowly crept up on her, and in seconds she was sobbing helplessly on the bathroom floor after emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet for the fourth time that day.

Depression took root deep inside her heart, she tried to stand so that she could walk to her bed, but she slipped on the hem of her pyjama pants and fell to the floor once again, smacking her head on the edge of the tub. A harsh crack resonated through the bathroom and her world spun to black as blood slowly trickled from her wound.

* * *

He sat outside for hours, in the cold, on her stoop. He waited for her to fling the door open and tell him she was wrong, that she loved him, and that she wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with him.

But she never did.

He knew she was stubborn, horridly so, but he had thought that her love would be stronger than her stubbornness. It tore him up inside, knowing that she was serious about ending it when he himself was almost certain he wanted to make it last for a lot longer. What hurt more is that she didn't give him any closure, she could have at least given him that.

He couldn't take it anymore. He could barely breathe it hurt so much. He stood quickly, turned back to her door, unlocked it and barged back into her house.

When he found her, he wished he had never left.

* * *

"So you don't know what happened?"

"No, not for sure. She was in the bathroom, lying on the floor with that nasty cut."

Harry sighed and sank into the chair across from Draco.

"I think she might have slipped, I don't know. I just want her to wake up." Draco mumbled miserably. He had his head in his hands and Harry could see he was in misery. He was trying to think of something comforting to say, but just as he opened his mouth, the door to Hermione's room burst open.

"Is she alright?! Luna and I just got here, we couldn't find anyone to watch Selene so we had to take her to mum's." Ron skidded to a halt next to Harry's chair. "Has she been asleep this whole time?"

"Yes, the Healers suspect she has a concussion so they're not sure how to wake her up. For all they know, she could be in a coma already."

"So they don't know for sure what's wrong?"

"They know, they're just mixing up a potion to wake her up without hurting her head anymore." Harry sighed and patted Hermione's hand. "Pretty soon I'm just going to go to a muggle drugstore and buy some smelling salts. That'll wake her up sure enough."

A knock interrupted their conversation and a Healer entered the room.

"Er, hello...It's past visiting hours boys. Only family can be here now." The woman said, pushing a graying chunk of brown hair behind her ear.

"She hasn't got any family but us." Ron sneered, "Her parents were killed two years ago, she's an only child, and she's not married. My family adopted her and everyone in this room is considered a part of that family. So if you want her to be all alone when she wakes up you can kick us out, but I don't think that would be a good idea."

The healer raised her eyebrows at Ron, but settled onto a stool in the room without saying anything else.

"Right, so I thought you might like to know how she's doing, yes?" the boys all nodded impatiently, "She has a mild concussion, nothing to worry about though, I have the potion to wake her up right here." She slid a vial of violent orange liquid onto the small counter next to her, "Her head might hurt for a couple of days and she'll have to take it easy, but both she and the baby will be perfectly fine."

A sudden silence filled the room. All three of the boys were shocked, Draco mostly. Harry and Ron glanced at each other momentarily before turning murderous glares to their blond friend.

"B-baby?" Draco squeaked quietly, "She's _pregnant_?"

"Yes, she and a redheaded girl came in for tests the other day. I performed them myself."

Draco was already white as a ghost, and Harry paled as well. Ron turned his wide-eyed glare towards his best friend. If Ginny was pregnant, friendship be damned, he'd tear Harry limb from limb.

Draco hung his head again, feeling utterly defeated. She was pregnant and wasn't even going to tell him that he was going to be a father. Did she break things off with him because of it? Did that mean she didn't want to keep the baby? Was she planning on having an abortion? The questions distracted him while the healer administered Hermione's potion and left the room. He heard her stir and looked up.

"Can you two leave? I need to talk to her alone."

Harry and Ron nodded and shuffled out the door, clicking it shut behind them. Draco heard her groan and immediately rushed to her side.

"Draco? What are you...Why am I in the hospital?"

"You knocked yourself out sweetheart," he whispered and tucked a stray curl behind her ear, "I found you on the bathroom floor. You have a concussion."

Hermione moaned and rubbed her eyes.

"Wonderful. Just bloody fantastic."

Draco chuckled a little and kissed her newly healed forehead. He wanted to ask her about the baby, but suddenly he felt constricted. His tongue wouldn't obey him and his palms were sweaty. Did he really want to know?

"I heard an interesting bit of news from the doctor." He mumbled softly to her as he massaged her hands.

"And what was that?" She was too busy trying to fight off the pain to think about what he said.

"When she told us, me, Harry, and Ron that is, how you were, she said both you and the baby would be just fine." He felt her stiffen all the way to her fingertips.

"Draco, I-"

"Why didn't you tell me? And why on _earth_ would you break us up if we are going to have a baby?" She could hear the pain in his voice and it made her regret her decision more than ever.

"Draco, I was going to tell you just after I found out but..." She paused, unsure of how to continue, "But I didn't know if you ever wanted to have children so I used Ginny's pregnancy scare as a way of asking what you thought-"

"'Mione, you should have just told me straight out!"

"I was nervous! And when you said you weren't ready for kids yet..."

"Jesus Hermione! I said I wasn't sure! If you said you were pregnant I'm pretty damn sure I would have kissed the hell out of you and spread the word to everyone I know!"

"But you said you didn't even want to think about it! How could you not be ready for kids and at the same time be super ecstatic about having one?"

"I don't know, I always thought I would have you to myself for a few years before we had kids."

She opened her mouth to retort, but something struck her as strange about his words.

"Wait a second, did you seriously plan for me to have your children? Because that's what I got from that little statement of yours."

He blushed slightly and looked down at his hands, stammering out nonsense.

"Well, I mean, I thought maybe...but the timing was always bad, or the place...I wanted to last night and then...now isn't the right place either, but the timing is rather forced, so..."

"Draco, what on earth are you on about?"

He stood up and looked her straight in the eye. She didn't notice his hands fishing around in the pockets of his robes.

"You know I love you, right?" He nearly whispered, "I've been debating how to do this for nearly six weeks..."

She gulped when he knelt down and held a small violet velvet box out to her.

"Hermione Jane Granger, will you marry me?" He opened the box and she gasped when she saw the ring.

"I...Draco, we...You're mother-"

"Would be ecstatic if you accepted." The corner of his mouth turned up a little, "She helped me pick out the ring, actually. It's a good thing too, I realized, because I was going to get the most expensive diamond I could find. She talked me into this one though. Thought it was more 'you'."

"She really...She wants this?" Hermione whispered, "But what about the whole pureblood mudblood issue."

Draco sighed and lowered the box.

"Honestly 'Mione, whether my mother approved or not it wouldn't change my mind. It might bother me but I would still ask you to marry me."

Hermione smiled then and blinked back the light shine of tears that had accumulated. She leaned in and softly brushed her nose against his.

"Yes, Draco, I will marry you." She mumbled against his lips, "I love you."

He grinned and kissed her, slipping the ring onto her finger and moving his hand to cover her abdomen.

"I love you, too. Both of you."


End file.
